'Game of Thrones' Recap: "Dragonstone"

Kyra Power ’19 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Spoiler Warning: This recap contains spoilers for episode 1 of Game of Thrones season 7.
It’s back after over a year waiting and it’s great. I was worried that with the long wait and an incredible finish to season six that the premiere would not live up to my expectations or the hype. But honestly, how could any episode that opens with the greatest words, ‘written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss,’ be disappointing?
So a brief rundown of last night: the episode opens with Arya (Maisie Williams) wearing the stolen face of Walder Frey (David Bradley) as she murders all of the Freys, because apparently killing Walder and his two sons last season was not enough. We then got to see the opening credits this season featuring Oldtown, which was a fun addition.
The episode kept up a good balance of recap and plot progression for a premiere. Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) was let through to Castle Black, which made me internally scream: is the wall about to fall, is he letting the White Walkers through? As of yet, the the wall remains strong. More than strong in fact, as Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) asks Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) to lead the free folk to the East Watch by the sea and protect it from the army of the dead. The free folk don’t seem to be the only ones headed to the sea: the love of my life, The Hound (Rory McCann), and his fire worshipping squad are definitely headed that way as well. But I am getting ahead of myself.
The tension left between Jon and Sansa (Sophie Turner) last year is still present as she challenges his rule in front of the whole court for a real ‘oh, damn’ moment. Despite their very public spat, the Stark siblings, (I mean, technically cousins, but you know) seem to be a good match for one another. Jon, good, loyal and a seasoned battle commander, and Sansa, the politician, with an excellent knowledge of their southern enemies.
The scenes of the North had a couple of the best encounters. Sansa and Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) no longer seem to be on the weird/creepy/abusive relationship terms that they were on last season since she jilted his attempted kiss in the Godswood. When he asked her what would make her happy, she responded with peace and quiet. Dragged, son.

But most notably, Lyanna Mormont (Bella Ramsey), honorary Queen of Savage and my heart, spoke up again to shut down the misogynists. Jon has called for everyone ages 10-16 to train in battle and he means everyone, not just the boys. A couple of people were skeptical, but Lyanna just looked at them and they shut right up.
My favorite nod of the night was Sansa to Cersei (Lena Headey). When speaking of her, Jon says it sounds like she, Sansa, admires Cersei. Sansa responds that she learned a great deal from her. I don’t know why I loved this so much. I think because it shows that all the relationships are complex. There is no definite good and evil, you can learn many great things from truly awful people.
Cut to Cersei and Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), though. Like, why are they still a thing? Jaime, go North and marry Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) before Tormund does. Cersei has a new floor mural with a map of Westeros so she can stomp on her enemies. Basically, they’re surrounded and they’re screwed. But never fear, crazy Uncle Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbaek) shows up. It seems he decided to bring his arrogant loyalty to Cersei and not Dany (Emilia Clarke) after all. But she denies his proposal as well, as he’s crazy and known to kill everyone. He promised to return with a priceless gift: Tyrion’s head perhaps? Or would the show introduce the horn so late in the game?
Arya left the Freys in good spirits and comes across some Lannisters ft. Ed Sheeran for some rabbit and good conversation. This scene had me on the edge of my seat waiting for them to all attack her, but they were just friendly soldiers and that makes me happy.
The Hound is still with the men loyal to the Lord of Light, and they stumble upon the house that he and Arya visited in season four. (Note, he killed the man and his daughter that lived there). It seems that Arya and practically dying has made him a little softer. Cue the cute scene where he buries their bodies in the middle of a snowstorm. Also, the creepy scene where Thoros of Myr tells him to look into the fire and he sees East Watch.

Sam (John Bradley) is still training in Old Town with the maester. And it’s BORING. The fast cut montage was a fun new GoT element they hadn’t really done before. After some lurking and thieving Sam gets his hands on the good books and discovers there’s a giant pile of dragon glass on Dragonstone and immediately writes to Jon. Could this possibly mean there will be a Jon/Dany meet up on Dragonstone? Also, Jorah was just randomly in a cell in Oldtown, so there’s that.
The episode is called Dragonstone so finally, in true GoT fashion, we see Dany at the end. She arrives on the beach and touches the sand and honestly I have never been more excited about watching someone disembark from a boat and climb up some stairs. I was slightly sad she didn’t sit down on the throne, but it was 10000000000% worth it when she walked to the table of battle plans and looked up at her squad and said, “Shall we begin?”
Honestly, an incredible start to this season.